FINALLY, THE AP CHAMBER OF COMMERCE EMBRACES THE UNDEAD: the article they don’t want you to read

After five years, the powers that be at the Asbury Park Club of Commerce (APCC) have woken up and done what TheBPlot and many, many other people have been calling for, for years: they have acknowledged the record-setting work of Zombie Walk founder, Jason Meehan and his team of dedicated undead.

In 2011, a downtown business owner told TheBPlot: “Jason and his Zombies are my heroes every October. If I compare my (revenue) numbers for other fall weekends around the Zombie weekend, they don’t come close. For that weekend I know to bring in more staff with a guarantee it all pays for itself in multiples.”

Positive national publicity? Yes. Revenue for both boardwalk and downtown businesses? Yup. Community pride? Big time. What was the APCC (managed by a under-appreciated team of one) waiting for to recognize the unparalleled accomplishment Meehan spearheaded?

In 2010, a APCC member told TheBPlot Meehan’s name was proposed during a Carousel Award brainstorming meeting. The idea was flatly killed because the heads of the organization felt he would not be able to sell enough tickets to the tacky awards dinner. In 2011, two board members confirmed all this.

Read TheBPlot’s first article about the APCC and Zombie walk here and the first article dedicated to the walk (when it was a new idea) in 2009 here. To look at the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 tax filing (the last available), click here.

16 Comments

Communityactivistacademic April 27, 2014

For my graduate work we are doing an assessment on community, we chose Asbury Park, I grew up on 8th Ave, first job was Jonathans Candy Shoppe. I hear the discontented above from shop owners and policy makers. What I do not hear is the voice of the people of the actual community. The residents you do not see on Cookman Ave. Our assessment showed surprising exclusion of the very original community that all this is supposed to uplift. Who was holding those new jobs were not of the community, or at least not the community that lives on the other side of Main. Our views are academic, but the discussions above are petty. Asbury Park has served our group as an example of failed community activism. I mourn my long lost Asbury Park and the childhood memories that have all but been dismantled to remake Asbury into something she just isn’t and ignore her true calling, a home, a community not as destination.

Jackie from the Asbury Park Chamber is crawling around town looking to cry about this post. She’s too stupid to realize she is wining about what someone else thinks. Its like if I say that she is the best at her job. Besides Sakman getting the award way before people knew they were scamming the city she’s just a baby like someone else said here.

What a disappointment to read today the city lost another major event: Bamboozle, Fim Fest, All Tomorrows Party and now Sand Blast. Does anyone know who is in charge of fostering these people and their events? Is it the Asbury Park Chamber?

What if there was this much time and energy spent on rehabbing the shameful school system here? I think this site dredged up old news and the Asbury Park Chamber cant professionally take the critical spotlight. Done. Now who will talk about crime in town?

Can the Abury Park Chamber of Commerce absorb any criticism without going crazy? Damn. Every one of them just can’t help themselves being big babies. Jasons been bought by the chamber for a $10k economic development grant from the state. Me thinks he doth needlessly protest too much.

EDITOR’s NOTE (4/9/14): TheBPlot welcomes and encourages this and any other dialogue about the goings on in the greater Asbury Park area. In regards to the opinion post above (published 4/4/14), by Richard Virgilio (not an anonymous blogger), we stand by it as well as note that Jason was interviewed for a feature article about this exact topic in 2011 where he thanked us for the coverage. What do you think could have prompted his opinion change three years later? As huge fans of his work, we are very, very grateful Jason took the time to share his thoughts and feedback.

Greetings Richard,

I am writing today to share with your readers how completely disheartened I was to read your most recent article about the upcoming Carousel Awards, and the largely false statements made about an organization that I am a dedicated part of. For readers who don’t know, the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce is and has been the leading supporter of The New Jersey Zombie Walk for the past three years. While countless local businesses have enjoyed the Zombie Walk and it’s crowds for the business and attention the event brings to them, over the years only a small few have supported the event physically (let alone financially.) Through the years as The Walk has grown to be the larger than life outbreak akin to the movies that inspire the event, so have its staffing needs and production costs increased by the same exponents. During this growth the Chamber of Commerce was always there to support me in whatever way they could, often pitching in their own resources and volunteers to help put a few pieces of the event into place. Somehow I’ve been able to raise the money to pay for everything each year despite the inability to gain sponsors, still the pressure felt by the overwhelming growth and associated cost of the event each year has given me more gray hair than I deserve at 33 years old.

Something else you may not have noticed is that last year, the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce was the presenting sponsor of the New Jersey Zombie Walk. Deciding to reclaim the Guinness World Record as a way to demonstrate how resilient and persistent and strong New Jersey is as a people was an unprecedented idea, and one that I never could have possibly achieved without help. In stepped the APCC, an organization dedicated towards promoting Asbury for all that it has to offer, every local business and attraction (they don’t just promote members.) Jackie was willing and wanting to carry some of the heavy weight that planning the Zombie Walk puts on me, to keep the dead alive in Asbury Park. As partners (and with lots more help) we made history on the Asbury Boardwalk last October.

Since the last Zombie Walk I have also taken a seat on the Board of Trustees for the Chamber of Commerce, and am actively helping to create several new and exciting events for this City that we all love. I wholeheartedly believe that the biggest thing keeping Asbury Park from reaching the truly great potential that it has is the inability for its individual parts to work as a team towards that future. If more businesses lent their support and just a little of their time to an organization such as this, everybody would win.

Lastly I must say that this “silly award” that I am to be honored with means more to me than I can explain to you, as reading your article has made it clear that you do not understand what it is to be an active participant in our community. I am deeply looking forward to the Carousel Awards, an evening that I know will be spent with all of the friends that I have made through the seven year journey that has been creating my events. These people are shaping Asbury, they are like my family, and I would not trade them for the world.

The Chamer only wants to throw parties and help the shop owners who do what they want. I stopped being a member and Jackie pushed and pushed for me to write them a check again pretty much telling me not to call her unless I gave them money. Tickets to the awards gala, membership and sponsoring other things equals thousands of dollars a year for the struggling small businesses here. We can spend money on other marketing that gets me more. And if you dont buy tickets you are forgotten.